About the VAF

During the past few decades, interest in ordinary architecture has grown rapidly and in diverse directions. Scholars and field professionals apply the term "vernacular architecture" to a range of structures including traditional domestic and agricultural buildings, industrial and commercial structures, twentieth-century suburban houses, settlement patterns and cultural landscapes. The Vernacular Architecture Forum was formed in 1980 to encourage the study and preservation of these informative and valuable material resources.

In both membership and methods, VAF embraces the value of multidisciplinary interaction. Historians, designers, archaeologists, folklorists, architectural historians, geographers, museum curators and historic preservationists contribute substantially to the organization. Just as wide ranging are the interests and research subjects of our members.

If you are interested in learning more about vernacular architecture and in building associations with like-minded students, scholars, and professionals from all parts of the continent and the world, then you should join the Vernacular Architecture Forum today.

You can learn more about the VAF as an organization by exploring these pages. We encourage the formation of regional chapters. VAF members have the opportunity to form regional chapters, and to join our e-mail discussion list. Members also benefit by receiving our well-regarded journal, Buildings & Landscapes, the VAN a quarterly e-newsletter, and discounted conference registration.

I write to provide background information for a series of votes on proposed amendments to the VAF by-laws that will take place at the Annual Meeting in Chicago, June 6, 2015. Please find attached copies of the current VAF by-laws and of the proposed by-laws amendments. The organization’s By-laws Committee, in dialogue with the Board of Directors, developed these amendments over the past 18 months, and the board unanimously endorsed them at its fall meeting in Chicago, November 1, 2014.

Below I outline the five proposed changes, list the sections of the by-laws where they appear, and provide brief background on each.

I encourage you to discuss these amendments with current officers and members of the board. Many thanks to the members of the by-laws committee for their meticulous work on these amendments (2013-14: Susan Kern, chair, James Buckley, Claire Dempsey, Gabrielle Lanier, Boyd Pratt; 2014-15: Carla Yanni, chair, Claire Dempsey, Elaine Jackson-Retondo).

I strongly support all of these amendments, and would be very happy to receive your questions and comments (chwilson@unm.edu).

Creates the position of President-Elect to be elected every other year at the annual spring meeting and serve for one year as a non-voting member of the board and the executive committee (attend the fall board meeting, receive board emails, hold transition discussions with the current president, etc.) for the year proceeding assuming the duties of the president.

Meant to ensure that an incoming president, if not currently on the board, will be fully up to speed on the current issues and initiatives of the organization before taking over as president.

2. Reduction of the number of elected directors (VII: C).

Reduces the number of elected board members from 15 to 12 (in other words, from 5 to 4 new board members elected each year to three year terms).

Many of us have found the current 27 member board unwieldy for decision making. These numbers increase at the spring meetings to 32 by the participation of 5 incoming board members, and to 35 in the alternate years when the new president and VPs are also elected. The size of the board also adds to the travel costs covered by the VAF for the fall board meeting. This and the next provision are meant to reduce the board by 6 members to a new total of 21. Some have wondered about having enough people to do the work of the organization, but as long as the chairs of our committees are on the board, members of their committees can be recruited from the general VAF membership as necessary (and these committee members receive credit by being listed on the committees page of the VAF website).

3. Conference organizers off the board (VII.D).

Removes the three conference chairs, those for the past, current and future years, from the board of directors.

The conference chairs would attend the board meeting when they present their conference proposal for the approval of the board and as necessary after this. The membership of conference chairs on the board has been intended to facilitate transmission of conference organizing practices. In recent years, the Second VP has coordinated conference scheduling and preparations, and this year I chose to appoint three members of the organization experienced in conference organizing to the conference committee. These committee members have proved valuable advisors to the current conference organizers.

4. Electronic participation (VII.G. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16).

Providing for electronic participation in specific governance functions of the organization.

These were prepared in response to new requirements that non-profits chartered in D.C. (as we are) address this issue.

5. Signing contracts (IX.D).

Limiting the power to sign contracts on behalf of the VAF to the President and Treasurer.

As some of you may know, we learned in late September that Gabrielle Lanier, our long-term Secretary, will be stepping down from this position. We are all enormously appreciative of her long and invaluable service on the Board and the executive committee of the VAF. Gabrielle has a particularly intimate knowledge of our organization; she knows how we look from the outside, from the inside, and she knows an awful lot about each of us as individuals. That knowledge and her prompt and helpful response to pleas for help and for information have been critical to our deliberation and decision making over the years. We are in her debt for this exceptional contribution to VAF.

The nominations committee is at work to find a new Secretary, and we would welcome volunteers or suggestions for this critical position.

As noted in our Bylaws, Section V G: “The Secretary shall serve a term of five years as Secretary of the Board of Directors and shall be responsible for the maintenance of the Forum’s minutes, corporate records, and such other records as may be specified by the Executive Committee. The Secretary may be renominated for an additional five-year term.”

The Secretary serves on the Executive Committee, takes minutes at the Board’s twice-yearly meetings, handles our corporate and copyright filings, and has traditionally handled membership and responded to inquiries about the VAF. Some aspects of the Secretary’s duties, in particular these last, will be modified with our transition to the Wild Apricot system. Because the Secretary, like the Treasurer, serves a longer term than other Board members, this individual plays a special role in maintaining continuity and institutional memory.

Please let me know if you are interested in serving VAF in this way or if you have a suggestion of someone who would do well in this role.

The New England Chapter of the Vernacular Architecture Forum is deeply saddened to share the news that longtime VAF member and current VAF-NE chapter President Rick Greenwood PhD died yesterday of cancer. For nearly three decades, Rick served on the staff of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission, most recently as Deputy Director. Trained as an archaeologist and historian, Rick focused on social, economic, and technological forces in Rhode Island history, including research on mill villages and the industrial revolution; the Blackstone Canal and the transportation revolution; and the evolution of the Rhode Island dairy farm. Rick contributed to The Early Architecture and Landscapes of the Narragansett Basin, prepared for the 2001 VAF national conference in Newport Rhode Island. Rick had served as a Director of VAF-NE from 2001 to 2007 and as President from 2012 to the present. Before coming to Rhode Island, Rick was a historian at the National Historic Landmarks program of the National Park Service, and he was a preservation planner for the Maryland Historical Trust. VAF-NE extends its deepest condolences to Rick's family and his RIHPHC colleagues.